Archives for September 2009

Unitasker Wednesday: Rock, Paper, Scissors Card Game

All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy!

I’m still of the opinion that the game Rochambeau is unclutter-wonderful because it requires no equipment. If you have hands, you can play Rock, Paper, or Scissors whenever you want. You can even play it alone if you have two hands.

So, you can understand my confusion when I stumbled upon yet another unitasker related to this game. Thanks to reader Nise, we now know about the Rock, Paper, Scissors Card Game:

First, you need hands to be able to deal, hold, and play the cards. Hands that you could simply use to PLAY THE GAME. Second, you — wait, forget a second point. I think the first point about HANDS says it all.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 30, 2009 | 23 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2008

  • Unclog your commute
    The founder of RideSpring discusses how he created a company to help unclog the roads across the US.
  • Hideaway sink
    Better Homes and Garden has some interesting ideas for small bathrooms.
  • New Eye-Fi products
    The Eye-Fi memory card has been out for less than a year and noticeable improvements have been made in that time.
  • Use ScrapBook for online highlighting in Firefox
    Stop printing out web pages and instead take notes and highlight web pages directly in your Firefox browser.

2007

Popularity: 6% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 30, 2009 | Comment | Tweet This

Bento 3 adds sharing and security, integrates iPhoto

bento_box
Back in May, I reviewed the iPhone version of Bento, Filemaker’s personal database application. There were a couple comments asking whether Bento supported encryption and sharing, and, as of yesterday, I’m happy to say that it does.

Bento 3 was released yesterday, and they’ve added not only the ability to secure fields and share libraries over your home network—just like iTunes—but Bento integrates iPhoto so you can create personal databases that help you organize photos, iCal events, emails, Address Book contacts, spreadsheets, lists, PDFs you’ve created with your ScanSnap, and pretty much any other clutter in your digital life.

Be sure to check out the Bento Template Exchange to check out database templates other users have created, or share your own.

Bento is $49 ($29 upgrade).

Popularity: 6% [?]

Posted by Brian on Sep 30, 2009 | 3 Comments | Tweet This

Tips for encouraging children’s chores

On the continued topic of inspiring children to establish organized routines, the HGTV website has a helpful article on motivating and prompting kids to clean up their rooms.

From the article “Cleaning Children’s Rooms“:

Make a cleaning map for a child’s room, showing where everything is to be stored. Include items such as compact discs, shoes, books, stuffed animals and dirty laundry. Not only is this fun and educational, but the child also has no excuse about not knowing where to put away items.

How do you inspire your children to do chores? Let’s keep the conversation going in the comments.

(Thanks to Parenthacks for the link.)

Popularity: 9% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 29, 2009 | 21 Comments | Tweet This

Routine cards to help kids organize their schedule

Website LivingLocurto has a wonderful set of cards to help young children establish a morning routine. The Kid’s Morning Routine free printable cards are a simple way to help organized habits get started early:

There is also free for download on the site a beautiful After School Routine Poster. Check out more back-to-school printables from Living Locurto.

(Image from Living Locurto. And, a special thanks to LobotoME for the introducing me to these wonderful free prints.)

Popularity: 10% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 29, 2009 | 33 Comments | Tweet This

Reasons to unclutter

Motivation to get rid of clutter and streamline your space can come in many forms. The September 1 issue of Woman’s Day magazine provides 12 “surprising benefits of getting organized.” Reporter Denise Schipani outlines her reasons in the article “Out with the clutter, in with the calm, the money-saving, and more.” (The article was renamed “12 Reasons to Unclutter Your Space” when it was placed online.)

From the article:

5. Tidy Your Computer
“Treat your computer desktop just as you would your desk, keeping only active files and shortcuts visible,” says Lorie Marrero, author of The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life. A “cluttered” computer screen is harder to look at, making you feel jumbled. Go through folders and delete what you no longer need. Archive older stuff you want to save to backup storage (a CD or external hard drive).

Check out the full article and add your own reasons to the list. You may even spot a few quotes from me in the text!

Popularity: 9% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 28, 2009 | 5 Comments | Tweet This

Workspaces of the rich and famous

Today’s first post is a quick one. I simply want to direct you to a fun feature that ran last week over on Lifehacker: “Nine Workspaces Where Famous Folks Get Stuff Done.”

We’ve shown Al Gore’s piled space here on Unclutterer before, but the others are new to us. I especially love the video of David Allen’s desk — simple and extremely productive:

Now I’m really curious what all of these famous peoples’ assistant’s desks look like …

Go on and check out the article, and then come back here and share your reactions.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 28, 2009 | 12 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2008

2007

Popularity: 7% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 27, 2009 | Comment | Tweet This

Determining the perfect amount

In the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the pesky Goldilocks is able to quickly find the bowl of porridge, chair, and semi-firm mattress that all meet her definition of just right. Granted, she has a limited set of options from which to choose, but she loves her choices so much that she is blissfully able to drift off to sleep in a den of BEARS at the end of her decision-making day.

In my life — thankfully without much threat of deadly wildlife mauling me — I struggle to find that point of just right with everything. How many pairs of jeans, shoes, spare rolls of toilet paper, rechargeable batteries, and baby bottles should I own? How much time should I spend working, socializing, sleeping, and exercising to feel my best? Is my house too small for my family’s changing needs?

Determining the just right amount of physical goods has proven to be easier than determining the less concrete attributes of life, and so I wanted to share my methods with you. The following is how I decide the perfect amount of goods for my space and my life:

  • How much space can I commit to storing this type of good?
  • How much space do I want to commit to storing this type of good?
  • Will I use all of it before it expires and/or becomes outdated and/or my brand loyalty changes?
  • Do I have enough (or too much) to get me through to my preferred cleaning schedule? (For example: Do I have enough pairs of socks to last me between laundry days? Am I putting off laundry until it gets out of control because I have too many pairs?)
  • Do I need or want this item at all?
  • How much time, money, and energy will I save in the future if I have more than one of these in my space?
  • What will I do if I run out?
  • Would having more or less of these items improve my quality of life?

Regardless of how good a deal is, I stick to this method of determining just right. What method(s) do you use? Tell us about it in the comments.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 26, 2009 | 19 Comments | Tweet This

Ask Unclutterer: Graduation garb

Reader Eri submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

As a recent graduate, I am stuck with a graduation gown that will definitely not be worn again (the school is changing the gown colors next year, so no luck in passing it on down). I also have my high school gown tucked away somewhere. What is the best approach to get rid of these things? Are there places that accepts gowns to remake new gowns or something else? I have found the tassel to be a small and simple ornament. And the hat? Not sure what to do with that either.

You have the traditional three options: sell it, recycle it, or throw it away.

To try and sell it, pair it with the hat and throw it up on eBay. In March or April you might find someone at a different school with the same colors who might need one on the cheap.

If you want to recycle it, I would suggest contacting a local preschool and asking if they want it. They could use it in their dress-up and imagination stashes. Local theaters might also have a need in their costume departments. If the fabric is of decent quality, you could cut it up and repurpose a little of it into a quilt or garment. Another idea might be to simply give it to a friend with kids who might enjoy using it for dress-up at home. Check out the comments for even more recycling ideas from our readers — they always have great ideas for repurposing items.

Finally, you could just throw it away. Take a photograph of it (if you don’t already have a picture of you wearing it during your graduation ceremony) and then put it in the trash. Most graduation gowns are made of extremely cheap fabric that will quickly decay.

Thank you, Eri, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Congratulations on your recent graduation!

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 25, 2009 | 42 Comments | Tweet This

Workspace of the Week: Picture perfect design

This week’s Workspace of the Week is JVOdesign’s home studio:

These pictures showcase an amazing space. They images say more than I ever could write about them. The only thing I want to add is that JVOdesign linked to her instructions for how to make the tack wall. Thank you for such a terrific submission, JVOdesign. I would love to work in this space.

Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 25, 2009 | 14 Comments | Tweet This

The Stash for organizing the small stuff

Organizing small things, specifically small things you regularly need at your fingertips, can be frustrating. Most of the pre-made organizing products for small things aren’t very attractive and/or are made exclusively for drawers.

While searching for a way to organize my son’s bath supplies, I came across an attractive organizing system that is made specifically for small things that sit out on a counter or hang on the wall. The Stash by Boon:

It’s available in white and black, and perfect for the lotions, shampoo, body wash, nail file, and dozens of other little things my son needs that I don’t use. It can easily be repurposed in the future to hold craft and office supplies or tiny toy parts if we ever move into a house with built-in bathroom storage.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 24, 2009 | 32 Comments | Tweet This

Uncluttering regrets

In the comments section of Tuesday’s post “Asking the better question,” reader Cheryl asked:

Have you ever gotten rid of something about which you later regretted making that choice? What was it? If it’s happened more than once, what object or person or habit was most regrettably gone?

In my personal experience, the only things I’ve regretted getting rid of are things I didn’t know I was tossing. During my first major purging process, I got impatient and just wanted the clutter to be out of my life. So, without opening the lids on some of my boxes and sorting through my things, I just blindly disposed of a few boxes. Included in one of the boxes were my social security card and passport. Both items were able to be replaced, but it would have been much less of a hassle had I not thrown them away in the first place. Rushing through the process is what led to my regrets.

Otherwise, I’ve never regretted getting rid of something. In fact, I’ve always felt better about getting rid of the clutter than I have felt about any of the things I’ve purged.

A couple people responded to Cheryl’s questions in Tuesday’s comments, and I’m interested in reading even more people’s responses here. Have you ever regretted getting rid of something? I think this is a wonderful question to ask. Tell us about your experiences in the comments.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 24, 2009 | 93 Comments | Tweet This

Unitasker Wednesday: Even more elaborate butter cutters

All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy!

We believed the Butter Cutter was quite the ridiculous unitasker when we featured it back in October of 2007. Little did we know that there were even larger and messier competitors in the non-knife butter cutting market. Behold the Gourmet Butter Mate and the One Click Butter Cutter:

I am 100 percent serious when I say that I don’t understand why someone would prefer to use one of these devices instead of a knife. A knife is relatively small, dishwasher safe, and can be used to cut hundreds upon hundreds of things. Neither of these devices can be used to cut anything other than butter and they’re huge and made up of many plastic parts and complete overkill and … well, you get the picture.

In comparison, these two devices make the original Butter Cutter we featured feel much less like a unitasker.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 23, 2009 | 37 Comments | Tweet This

Free time-tracking applications

Keeping track of how you spend your time is a necessity when you’re billing segments of your workday to multiple clients, but it’s also valuable for determining your efficiency and productivity. Lifehacker recently reviewed and rated the Five Best Time-Tracking Applications and awarded Klok (free and usable on all platforms) as the top application:

Built with Adobe AIR, Klok is a lightweight and cross-platform tracking solution. You can create a hierarchy of projects and sub-projects in the task-management sidebar and then track the time spent on each by dragging and dropping them into the workflow for the day. While you can delve into the details of each block of time, simple adjustments like expanding the amount of time you’ve worked on a project is as easy as grabbing the edge of the block with your mouse and tugging it down.

Also on their list are Manic Time (Windows), SlimTimer (web-based), RescueTime (Windows and Mac), and Project Hamster (Linux). All five of the applications mentioned in the article are free to access or download.

If you haven’t tracked your time before, I recommend keeping records for at least two weeks to see how you spend your time. The data you will acquire will give you insight into your most productive hours of the day, your low-performance times, when people tend to interrupt you, and how much time you waste during an average day. Then, you can start to tweak your work habits to get the most out of your time in the office.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 23, 2009 | 12 Comments | Tweet This

Asking the better question

Reader Diana recently e-mailed her process for deciding what stays and what goes when she is uncluttering. Simply stated, she asks:

Does this make my life better?

If the answer is yes, she keeps the object or routine or whatever it is that she is examining. If her answer is no, she gets rid of it.

“Does this make my life better?” is a simple question. However, it’s important to think about what the question isn’t asking.

The word does is in the present tense. Diana isn’t asking if the thing did make her life better at some point in the past. She isn’t asking if it could maker her life better in the future. Nor is she asking if it should make things better based on other people’s perceptions. All she is asking is if it does make her life better, right now.

So often we hold onto things because they were once meaningful or because we think we might need them at some undetermined point in the future or because we worry about what other people will think if we get rid them. Asking the straightforward, “Does this make my life better?” allows you to avoid these cluttering scenarios and instead focus on the present.

Great advice, Diana. Thank you for the tip!

Popularity: 10% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 22, 2009 | 28 Comments | Tweet This

Reducing résumé clutter

In the comments to last week’s post on organizing a job search, a reader asked if we might be able to put together a résumé organizing post. Since I haven’t put together a résumé in more than five years, I thought it best to turn to a professional. Today we welcome guest author Tiffany Bridge who worked for many years as a recruiter for a job placement company. Welcome, Tiffany.

Usually, uncluttering is about organizing your stuff in such a way that life is simpler for you. Résumé uncluttering is a special challenge because it’s about organizing your stuff so that it’s easier for someone else — most likely someone you’ve never met.

Common causes of résumé clutter and how to combat them

The One-Page Résumé. This is one of the most pernicious lies ever to haunt hiring managers. Yes, the Career Services people at your college were right that you should keep your résumé to one page when you’re just coming out of school, but once you have some real experience to talk about it’s needlessly constraining.

Solution: Your résumé should be exactly as long as you need to describe it, and no longer. For most people, this is about two pages, but even three are fine if you need them. You generally only need to cover about the last 10 years of your experience for most fields.

The Functional Résumé. This is another one of those things that your college Career Services people tell you about, which kind of makes sense when you’re getting out of school, but is completely useless once you’ve had a job or two. Hiring managers want a sense of career progression, how you got to where you are now, and a functional résumé completely obliterates any ability to observe it. It’s also commonly used to play down embarrassing gaps in one’s work history, so the hiring manager starts wondering what you’re trying to hide — firing? nervous breakdown? prison sentence?

Solution: It’s fine to have a functional component of your résumé if you have a job history that’s not a straight line toward your goal or if you’re trying to change fields and need to pull all your relevant skills together. However, you still need to be able to show the actual chronological history of your career.

The Objective Statement. This is a waste of an inch or two of space you are trying to use judiciously. If you’re bothering to apply to a job, clearly your objective is to get that job. No one needs to be told that.

Solution: A summary statement is a nice alternative, especially to pull together disparate experience, as long as you avoid tired phrases like “customer service-oriented,” “team player” or “seasoned professional.” Or you can skip it altogether and just jump straight into “Experience.” Your cover letter will explain your objectives better than a statement on your résumé.

In short, remember that the HR person or hiring manager giving your résumé the first review is going to be scanning, not reading. Keep the most relevant information (your experience) near the top, avoid pointless and outdated conventions, and don’t be afraid to take enough space to help the reader connect the dots of your experience and skills to get a complete picture of your strengths.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Posted by Tiffany on Sep 22, 2009 | 27 Comments | Tweet This

Your stuff isn’t you

Over the weekend, writer Andrew Sullivan linked to the findings of a 2003 study on “The role of eyebrows in face recognition.” The study concludes that when a person removes his or her eyebrows (either by shaving them off or digitally removing them in a photograph) it is very difficult to recognize that person.

More than half of the people looking at images of celebrities will fail to name the celebrity when their eyebrows are missing. And, since most of us aren’t as famous as Richard Nixon, it’s safe to bet that if we were to remove our eyebrows that most people wouldn’t recognize us, either.

I’m mentioning this study because it is fascinating to me on two levels. First, I thought it was cool. Who comes up with the idea for testing this sort of thing?

Second, I instantly thought about the human desire to express ourselves through stuff. We buy doo dads and knick knacks and a seemingly unlimited supply of things to proclaim, “this is who I am!” We think our stuff tells the world who we are, but our eyebrows — little bits of hair that nature automatically provides — say more than our possessions ever will.

Remove a favorite chair from your home or toss out your beloved t-shirt and everyone in your life will still recognize you. Shave off your eyebrows, and even your closest circle of friends will have to stare at you for awhile to realize that they know you. I’m not suggesting that you shave off your eyebrows, rather that you remember this strange study as further proof that your stuff isn’t you.

(Images of Richard Nixon and Winona Ryder from the study.)

Popularity: 8% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 21, 2009 | 19 Comments | Tweet This

Keep it in rotation

Professional organizer extraordinaire Monica Ricci returns to Unclutterer to talk about consumable products. You can follow Monica on Twitter, Facebook, and her blog for more organizing tips.

There are two types of things in our lives — consumable goods and what I call hard goods. Consumable goods are things we buy, use, and re-buy to sustain our lives. Hard goods are items we buy with the intention of keeping them long term. There are some important differences between consumables and hard goods. First, the obvious is that consumables get used up and need to be re-acquired. Second, it makes sense to purchase consumables in quantity because of their consumable nature, provided you have ample space to store them. But one of the most important differences is that while consumables get consumed, hard goods live with us until we choose to move them along. Another differentiating factor is that consumable items need to be balanced and stay in motion. If not, you’ve got trouble. Trouble in the form of overspending, crowded storage spaces, mystery inventory and expired products which equals more wasted money.

To avoid these perils, evaluate your consumable inventory regularly. This means keeping on top of three primary areas: the refrigerator, the pantry and your toiletries stash.

  1. Clean out the refrigerator weekly, preferably the night before trash goes out to the curb.
  2. Keep informed about what’s in your pantry and don’t buy things you already have. Sort through everything in your pantry at least twice a year.
  3. Except for toilet paper and possibly bar soap, only keep a few extra toiletries on hand at any given time. Toiletry goods expire quickly (especially makeup), so buy them only when you need them.

There you have it … three simple ways to make sure your consumables get consumed in a way that doesn’t crowd your life, waste money, or waste food.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Posted by Monica on Sep 21, 2009 | 20 Comments | Tweet This

A year ago on Unclutterer

2008

2007

Popularity: 7% [?]

Posted by Erin on Sep 20, 2009 | Comment | Tweet This